Virginia, Syracuse have separated themselves from the pack ... for now

Dick Blume / The Post-StandardJohns Hopkins' Steven Boyle (10) shoots and scores as SU's John Lade defends during the fourth quarter of the Orange's 14-11 victory Saturday. The goal was the first of five the Jays scored toward the end of the game.

Syracuse, NY - There are still plenty of games to be played, plenty of potential traps looming, but at this point it appears that the Syracuse University men's lacrosse team and Virginia have separated themselves from the pack and are the teams to beat in Division I this season.

The Cavaliers, with a 13-12 defeat of SU in the Carrier Dome on Feb. 27, have to be considered the favorites, but the Orange is right there. Saturday's victory over Johns Hopkins solidified the defending champion's status as a serious contender for the 2009 crown.

Syracuse (4-1) is now 20-3 since the start of the 2007 season, with all three losses coming by a single goal (twice to UVA and once to Colgate). It will try to improve on that enviable record when 1-4 Binghamton visits the Dome at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Personally, it has been as much fun watching this SU team as it was a season ago. The team plays with a lot of passion, and its unselfishness is evident in the way it moves the ball on offense - better than any team in the country - and helps out on defense. There is only one weakness, and that is at the faceoff X. So far, it hasn't hurt the Orange, but it is clear that each game will be an adventure at the X.

What occurred at the end of the Hopkins game will surely make head coach John Desko and his staff consider asking the team to do something unthinkable for a typical SU team - take the air out of the ball toward the end if it has a lead.

Syracuse was cruising along with a dominating 13-6 lead late in the fourth quarter Saturday when JHU attackman Steven Boyle scored a seemingly harmless goal. The next thing SU knew, Hopkins was winning every faceoff and depositing shots past SU goalie John Galloway with alarming regularity, scoring five goals in the final 5 minutes, 14 seconds. The outcome was never in doubt, but it was an unsettling scene nonetheless.

"You never want to give up like that," said SU sophomore longstick midfielder Joel White, who played an outstanding game. "You want to keep pushing the whole game. At the same time we got up by (seven) goals and let up, so it's something we've got to work on. You can never let down and have them come back. You don't really want that to happen. I never really thought it was a close game, but at the same time you can't have them coming back. We've done that. We know how that goes and we've had our chances, so we can't let that happen to us."

Desko was thinking along the same lines.

"We played OK for 55 minutes," he said. "I was a little disappointed at the end. We wanted to get the ball back and get some possessions and work it around and let the clock run and make them play some defense. I think they (JHU) did a good job facing off. We had some violations and gave them an awful lot of possessions at the end and they were able to score a few. I wish we had been a little stingier defensively, but I'm sure at the end of the year when you look at the win/loss column and you see a win over the Blue Jays, it's going to be a big win."